This invention relates to a gel-like edible composition simulating raw fish meat and a food product which is quite similar in taste and texture to the raw meat of natural fish.
There are known various types of food products which include mannan and/or fish meat protein in the form of fish meat or "surimi", a Japanese word for fish meat paste.
A typical food product including mannan is devil's tongue jelly or "konnyaku" in Japanese, which is produced by adding a calcium salt to a water solution of mannan for gelation of the solution. Typical food products including fish meat "surimi" are "kamaboko" and "chikuwa", both traditional Japanese food products, which are produced by grinding fish meat "surimi" mixed with salt and causing the mixture to gel.
There are also known various types of food products including both mannan and fish meat "surimi", which are produced by adding mannan to fish meat "surimi" to increase the gel strength of the fish meat "surimi" and heating the mixture for coagulation.
Each of these conventional food products has a texture which gives a particular oral sensation when it is eaten. However, they generally have a rather strong resistance to mastication, giving a particular feeling of a kind of hardness to the mouth.